Logical Segmentation of Source Code

Many software analysis methods have come to rely on machine learning approaches. Code segmentation - the process of decomposing source code into meaningful blocks - can augment these methods by featurizing code, reducing noise, and limiting the problem space. Traditionally, code segmentation has been done using syntactic cues; current approaches do not intentionally capture logical content. We develop a novel deep learning approach to generate logical code segments regardless of the language or syntactic correctness of the code. Due to the lack of logically segmented source code, we introduce a unique data set construction technique to approximate ground truth for logically segmented code. Logical code segmentation can improve tasks such as automatically commenting code, detecting software vulnerabilities, repairing bugs, labeling code functionality, and synthesizing new code.Comment: SEKE2019 Conference Full Pape

Envaluing past practice: a framework for the spatial analysis of metalworking in first millennium BC Britain

This thesis explores how current understandings of craft have largely restricted its analysis to the domains of material and technique. Through a critique of existing approaches to space and a reconfiguring of what constitutes craft practice, it is argued that space needs to be considered as a vital element of craft and may benefit from being considered as a technological choice. Having reconsidered the role of space, the thesis reviews and explores approaches and methods to characterising space in both archaeological and experimental contexts. The study engages with a number of analytical techniques including geophysical and geochemical methods to develop approaches to the characterisation of space in both experimental and archaeological case studies. It is argued that the study of space and its inhabitation offers the potential to unite experimental and conventional archaeological excavation on a continuum of exploration that emphasises the active use of space and in craft contexts, encourages the use of dynamic reconstruction. A number of analytical constructs are advocated so as to allow the better use of spatial characterisation in archaeological syntheses. Ideas of technical routines and the signatures that they impart to open soil contexts are developed in the context of experimental and Iron Age case studies to demonstrate the utility of considering space as an element of craft

A Language-Agnostic Model for Semantic Source Code Labeling

Code search and comprehension have become more difficult in recent years due to the rapid expansion of available source code. Current tools lack a way to label arbitrary code at scale while maintaining up-to-date representations of new programming languages, libraries, and functionalities. Comprehensive labeling of source code enables users to search for documents of interest and obtain a high-level understanding of their contents. We use Stack Overflow code snippets and their tags to train a language-agnostic, deep convolutional neural network to automatically predict semantic labels for source code documents. On Stack Overflow code snippets, we demonstrate a mean area under ROC of 0.957 over a long-tailed list of 4,508 tags. We also manually validate the model outputs on a diverse set of unlabeled source code documents retrieved from Github, and we obtain a top-1 accuracy of 86.6%. This strongly indicates that the model successfully transfers its knowledge from Stack Overflow snippets to arbitrary source code documents.Comment: MASES 2018 Publicatio

Impact Of Redesigning A Large-Lecture Introductory Earth Science Course To Increase Student Achievement And Streamline Faculty Workload

A Geological Perspective is a general education survey course for non-science majors at a large southwestern research extensive university.  The class has traditionally served 600 students per semester in four 150-student lectures taught by faculty, and accompanied by optional weekly study groups run by graduate teaching assistants.  We radically redesigned the course to 1) improve student learning and, simultaneously, 2) reduce faculty effort.   Previously optional study groups were replaced by weekly mandatory break-out sessions, run largely by undergraduate peer mentors.  Twice weekly, lectures are brief with a large portion of class time allocated to active learning in small groups.  Completing quizzes on-line reduced grading and allowed students more flexibility.  Evaluation of the redesign (mixed methods, quasi-experimental, two-group, pre-test-post-test, multiple-measures study design) revealed no significant improvements in learner outcomes insofar as the instruments could measure. However, qualitative results reveal that overall students greatly valued their learning experience under the redesign.  In addition, the redesign reduced the departmental cost of the class offering per student by more than half.

Can Serial Rapists be Distinguished from One-off Rapists?

There are investigative advantages to being able to determine early in a police investigation whether a rape has been committed by a serial or one-off rapist. Previous research has found some differences in the crime-scene behaviours of serial and one-off rapists, however, this research suffers from the limitation of utilising a sample of rapes within which there was a mixture of victim-offender relationships. To address this limitation, this study sampled 38 serial (two or more convictions) and 50 one-off (one conviction) stranger rapists and compared their crime scene behaviour across four domains (control, sex, escape and style behaviours). Serial and one-off rapists differed in some control and sexual behaviours; in particular, in the type of victim targeted, the offence locations, methods of control and the sexual acts forced upon the victim. However, the results did not indicate a striking difference in the offending behaviour of the two groups. The implications of these findings for criminal investigations are discussed.University of Birmingha

Testing the assumptions of crime linkage with stranger sex offenses:a more ecologically-valid study

An increasing amount of research has been conducted on crime linkage, a practice that has already been presented as expert evidence in some countries; however it is questionable whether standards of admissibility, applied in some jurisdictions, have been achieved (e.g., the Daubert criteria). Much research has assessed the two basic assumptions underpinning this practice: that offenders are consistent in the way they commit their crimes and that offenders commit their crimes in a relatively distinctive manner. While studies of these assumptions with stranger sex offenses exist, they are problematic for two reasons: (1) small samples (usually < 30 series), and (2) samples consisting solely of serial offenses. The current study improved on past research through the use of a much larger dataset (N=50 series, 194 offenses; and N= 50 one-off offenses) and by sampling the offenses of both serial and one-off sex offenders, thereby representing a more ecologically valid test of the assumptions. The two assumptions were tested simultaneously by assessing how accurately 365 linked crime pairs could be differentiated from 29,281 unlinked crime pairs through the use of Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation logistic regression followed by Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis. An excellent level of predictive accuracy was achieved providing support for the assumptions underpinning crime linkage.University of Birmingha

Parents’ perceptions of children’s psychosocial adaptation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Québec: Comparison with gifted and non-gifted children

Studies conducted in French Canadian schools following the COVID-19 lockdown report that children in a pandemic might have difficulties adapting. Gifted and twice-exceptional children—who might present special needs in this situation—could have different levels of psychosocial adaptation and mental-health needs than other children. This study assessed the psychosocial adaptation of gifted and twice-exceptional children and compared the adaptation levels of these individuals to those of non-identified gifted children. The results show that 62.5% of the gifted children had generally coped well with pandemic conditions, as did the non-identified gifted children (73.9%). Conversely, 59.5% of twice-exceptional children presented difficulties in adapting to the pandemic situation regardless of subscale (e.g., depression, anxiety, aggressiveness). Accordingly, they exhibited more internalized (p \u3c .001) and externalized (p \u3c .001) behaviors than the non-identified gifted children and more externalized behaviors than the gifted (p = .014). The children in the gifted sample exhibited age and gender differences, with the youngest showing more externalized difficulties than the older children and the boys showing more externalized behaviors than the girls. Taken together, these results suggest that giftedness is not an indication of a propensity for developing skills for adapting to pandemic conditions. It appears that having a neurodevelopmental condition associated with giftedness is more significant because the twice-exceptional children had more difficulty adapting than the non-identified gifted and, on some subscales, than the gifted

Timing Deficits in ADHD: Insights From the Neuroscience of Musical Rhythm

Everyday human behavior relies upon extraordinary feats of coordination within the brain. In this perspective paper, we argue that the rich temporal structure of music provides an informative context in which to investigate how the brain coordinates its complex activities in time, and how that coordination can be disrupted. We bring insights from the neuroscience of musical rhythm to considerations of timing deficits in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), highlighting the significant overlap between neural systems involved in processing musical rhythm and those implicated in ADHD. We suggest that timing deficits warrant closer investigation since they could lead to the identification of potentially informative phenotypes, tied to neurobiological and genetic factors. Our novel interdisciplinary approach builds upon recent trends in both fields of research: in the neuroscience of rhythm, an increasingly nuanced understanding of the specific contributions of neural systems to rhythm processing, and in ADHD, an increasing focus on differentiating phenotypes and identifying distinct etiological pathways associated with the disorder. Finally, we consider the impact of musical experience on rhythm processing and the potential value of musical rhythm in therapeutic interventions